Monday, June 25, 2012

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a photo I took right around the beginning of spring. I shared it, and the quote on my Facebook wall today. It's one of my favorite photos, and it always makes me smile. I hope your days are filled with happy moments, and lots of smiles.

I was all smiles today, cause it wasn't hot. Ahhhh, happiness. I started working on this piece, and several others.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Here's a quickie project for you. If you've been following my blog, you know I have quite a few lamp parts. You also know that I have made candle holders and stands out of them. Well, how about using them as a vase.

When I say quick, I mean all I did was grab one of many lamp parts I have,

gave it a few coats of gesso, and wiped it back a little. Next came my dried roses.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been hot here. I haven't spent a great deal of time in the garage, other than bringing a few boxes in to go through. While doing that, I decided to start listing some items on my woefully neglected Etsy shop. Small items.

Like these vintage ribbon rose pins. They sold immediately.

I also decided to sell some of my vintage bobbins.

I barely blinked, and all four sets of 10 I listed were gone. I've decided to part with more.

I also listed a tiny vintage enamel funnel.

Such a cutie. Gone.

So, I'm going to be busy all weekend, going through boxes, and listing more small vintage goodies.

I have boxes, and boxes of small items. Once again, I forgot I had some of them.

I love this "Old Glory" lock.

The best thing about small items, they're easy to ship. Have a great weekend.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I'm not a hot weather person. Warm, yes. Hot, no. It zaps my concentration. It's hot in my neck of the woods today. The more I tried to work outside, the less I got done. So, a nice simple project in the studio was a better option.

How about a beaded sap bucket?

All I did was decide where I wanted the beads to drape,

and hot glued them on. It takes practice to keep the drape of the beads. Basically, I drug the hot glue gun along the underside of the beads, while pushing them up slightly. Then I pressed the beads into the glue, quickly. Does that make sense? I really need to do a video. Anyway, I painted over the whole thing with a white paint/gesso mix.

Monday, June 18, 2012

After painting my studio walls, the floor (previously painted black) started to look really tired. Especially since I have a tendency to splatter paint all over it. So, I decided to paint it a creamy white, and perhaps start using a drop cloth. Ya think? As I started to put some of my recent finds back in the room, I noticed I had a nice complimentary vignette going.

The chair from my "Focused Finds" post was given a very quick makeover. Remember how it looked before?

I found some milk paint I forgot I had.

Yes, even after lots of purging in the abyss, I'm still discovering stuff. I gave the fabric a coat of spruce blue. I didn't do multiple coats, because I wanted to maintain a worn look. After it dried, it was surprisingly soft. I had no intention of touching that fantastic frame with the original painted finish. I think the blue compliments it well.

My other recent find, the vase, looks like it could have come from the same house. So does the lamp I found this weekend at the flea market.

Everything works so well together, including the lace runner (a garage sale find).

It's very delicate, in great condition, and has beautiful rose details.